Watercraft such as boats and ships typically have a bilge with at least one bilge pump located therein that selectively removes unwanted water from the bilge that accumulates in the bilge. The bilge pump must be activated before accumulating water in the bilge reaches an excessive level that could damage or capsize the watercraft. The bilge pump can be activated manually or by depth switches or sensors that automatically activate the bilge pump when the water level in the bilge reaches a predetermined level. The bilge pump typically has an outlet that is connected by a bilge hose to a outlet port in a hull of the watercraft. Configured in this manner, the bilge pump system removes water in the bilge through the hull outlet port.
While these prior bilge pump systems generally remove bilge water in a suitable manner, in some instances it is desirable to add an additional, supplemental, or back-up bilge pump. For example, in watercraft requiring a relatively large bilge pump, the bilge pump may not adequately remove bilge water from a deep well because the bilge pump is of a size that cannot be positioned in the deep well. This problem can be solved by adding an additional bilge pump in the well that is smaller than the primary bilge pump. Such an additional bilge pump does not operate at the same times as the primary bilge pump because the additional pump is only required to operate after the primary bilge pump brings the water level down to the well below the primary bilge pump when the primary bilge pump will no longer remove water from the bilge. Also for example, in some watercraft the bilge pump may remove the bilge water too slowly under some conditions such as when a large volume of water rapidly enters the bilge. This problem can be solved by replacing the bilge pump with a bilge pump having a larger capacity or adding a supplemental bilge pump so that the two bilge pumps operate at the same time to more quickly reduce the large volume of bilge water. It also can be desirable to have a back-up bilge pump for use upon failure of the primary bilge pump. Such additional, supplemental, and back-up bilge pumps can be easily provided by original equipment manufacturers but are relatively expensive and time consuming to install under after-market conditions because additional openings must be cut into the hull of the watercraft.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved bilge pump system having an additional or supplementary bilge pump that is less costly and is relatively simple to install.